The social media debate: Should #Jets Players Tweet?

Ah the social media debate, I love talking about twitter in particular when it comes to the do’s and dont’s for professional athletes. We have seen in the past how an ill advised tweet can go viral and make it’s rounds through the media faster than the speed of sound. Some Jets players have been guilty of this, eh hem, Antonio Cromartie. (He’s the Cardinals problem now).

Jack Bechta, from The National Football Post site, put out a great list for rookies entering the NFL. High on his list at number two: STAY OFF OF SOCIAL MEDIA. Now as a blogger, I hate this advise. I especially hate this advice due to the fact that my blog is called JETS TWIT as in covering what player do on twitter and social media.

My site was never to be a dead-spin or a TMZ, but it seems that the big stories to cover is when a Jets player says something that gets everyone’s attention and as of late they could be controversial tweets.

Here is what Jack says in his article about social media:

2) Stay off Twitter and Instagram:

In the movie “Draft Day”, there was a line about twitter and how much teams hate when players use it. It’s so true, especially for young players. NFL teams can’t take away a players right to express himself socially but they can and will encourage them not to.

When Jim Harbaugh was at Stanford, he was a twitter darling with the opportunity to exponentially grow his personal following by millions upon taking the Niners job. Growing a massive following can translate into endorsement dollars. However, Jim quit twitter once the Niners hired him. He told me, “It’s not something he wanted to encourage his players to do and didn’t want to be a hypocrite by still doing it.”

Many of the Patriots players also avoid twitter because they know Belichick can’t stand it. The NFL is very competitive and teams don’t want anything proprietary leaked to the general public.

“I’ve been baptized previously, but the honor of being baptized in the same place that Jesus was baptized was something I could not pass up and something I’ll never forget in my life,”
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